MLB ramping up plans for best-case July start to season

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By the beginning of next week at the latest — perhaps even before this week is concluded — MLB is planning to present to the Players Association a proposal that will include what is currently the most optimistic hope: What would a season look like if spring training 2.0 began in June and the regular …

The sides are doing this now just in case the rosiest scenario plays out and — among many current hurdles — health officials open up enough locales to allow the renewal of spring training in 6-8 weeks.

The obstacles to returning to play, though, remain significant. The numbers of Americans contracting and dying from the coronavirus are going up in a few areas where MLB wants to play. There have yet to be clear signals that the league will be provided enough green lights to return all the teams to either their home or spring sites and that the clubs will have the equipment, tests and medical personnel necessary to do so.

But MLB recognizes it must initiate a process as if the rosiest scenario will play out because, if indeed it is possible, then there is so much to accomplish between now and then. It is not like you can announce on, say, June 9, that spring camps are opening June 10. There are going to be logistical issues — including getting players from wherever they are to wherever they need to be — made more complicated by the reality that the whole country will not be reopened.

And there is much to settle between MLB and the union, nothing bigger than: 1. Can MLB present a plan that brings confidence to the players that a return can be done with limited health risk and 2. how will the players be paid?

The union is insisting that the agreement of late March assured players they would be paid a prorated allotment of their 2020 salaries based on games played this year. The Commissioner’s Office has stated that agreement specified that further salary remedies would need to be addressed if games were played without the revenues that come from having spectators — and it is understood that at least initially there will be no fans, thus, no money taken in for ticket sales, souvenirs, parking, concessions and luxury suites.

MLB is expected to propose a pay scale in the coming days, the union almost certainly will reject it and this will be one of those items that needs time to be negotiated in the coming weeks, which is why it is important to begin now.

But there is going to be so much more that needs to be covered, including changes in rules such as whether to include the DH in the National League this year, roster size, playoff format. Expect the length of the season to become an area of conflict. The union is on record saying that once it can be done safely, the players want to play as many games as possible — logical since players are paid for the regular season. So even if, for example, the regular season had to be stretched into October to play more games before a November playoff, so be it.

MLB, though, gets its big national TV check for the postseason. And there are public health concerns that cooler weather in the fall will initiate another strong wave of the virus. MLB would not want to get to November, be into the playoffs and have to halt the season again and leave so much of its money on the table.

Will MLB and its players be able to find common ground on all these issues? That is why it is seen as urgent to start now, just in case the best outcome arrives and games can be played in early July. The thought process is if the virus does not allow a return in July, then the sides will have created a framework for, say, a season to start in August. But if they do not begin now then the calendar will begin to work against them just in case they could play in July.